Interview with Son of Heatwave.

This week I interviewed Jeff Mayfield of the band Son of Heatwave. Jeff has been in several bands over the years, including the amazing and enigmatic Piltatope. Son of Heatwave is his finest work yet. The Son of Heatwave albums are little homemade masterpieces, with custom made cloth cases for each CD. Their live sets are fantastic as well (see my blog about one of their shows here ). Enjoy the interview with Jeff, and be sure to visit Son of Heatwave at the links found below the interview.
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Brax: You've got to tell me about the name of your band. It reminds me of a rocket ship for some reason. Or is your father actually named Heatwave?

Son of Heatwave: No, it’s Daniel, and he lives in Colorado so I’m guessing he’d be more of a cold-front, ha ha... sorry. As far as the name Son of Heatwave, my friend Andy Bruntel is probably the smartest person I know, and together we made a list of band names, and he actually came up with that one. We tried to pitch it to a couple of bands that were forming at the time. One of them was in fact The Delta Spirit and uh, obviously they didn’t take it. After a while I realized that I wanted it. It makes me think of good and evil.

Brax: What project are you currently working on?

Son of Heatwave: I’m writing songs for an album about the family tree. It’s basically about how we are all alive because a myriad of our distant relatives narrowly avoided death several times. There are also songs on it that deal with Dad stuff. I have an 18 month old boy named Simon, and another on the way named Sam, and I think that existence is overall amazing and hilarious. I haven’t actually recorded a note of it yet, but I think I know what the cover art is going to be. I’m leaning towards a tree saying the words, "I’M THE CHAMP!, I’M THE CHAMP!, I’M THE CHAMP!"

Brax: What's the deal with all the references to red-eyed elk and blood orange in your lyrics?

Son of Heatwave: Get ready, its kinda weird. The red-eyed elk is a symbol of two things mixed together. The first is humanity’s ability to unconsciously destroy things around them and the second is any sort of vice. The end result is this out of control elk that ruins all your friendships and relationships. On the bright side, the blood orange is kinda like the antidote. I told you... it’s weird.

Brax: What’s your favorite venue to play at, and why?

Son of Heatwave: I think it’s La Cave. It’s under the surface of the earth, and cozy.

Brax: Wormholes or black holes?

Son of Heatwave: It depends what you’re after. If it’s grandiose destruction, I would go with the black hole. If at the end of the day I would like to wear a Viking hat, and control an army of hummingbirds made of white phosphorus, then uh... that would be the worm hole.

Brax: Tell me about your worst live show ever.

Son of Heatwave: Uh yikes, um I think it was at the vintage clothing store next door to Chain Reaction. The room was packed, and I was wearing a rainbow sherbet-esque sweater and my amplifier proceeded to stop working, then begin working, then stop working etc., etc. And when things aren’t going well, the last thing that you want to be wearing is a rainbow sherbet-esque sweater.

Brax: iPod, CD, Vinyl, or other? Why?

Son of Heatwave: I don’t know, that’s kinda like choosing a favorite animal for me, its constantly changing. Sorry for the cop out.

Brax: I mentioned this in an earlier blog I wrote about you. In one of your profile pictures on MySpace (which I "borrowed" for my blog about you) it looks like you are bowling or something. What are you actually doing in that picture?

Son of Heatwave: Borrowed? Hmm, it seems that I will be taking your house. That was from Halloween a few years ago. Basically, a bunch of our friends got together and dressed up as 60’s space crusaders. We had ray guns. I named myself Lone Ardin.

Brax: What is your opinion on robots?

Son of Heatwave: I approve, only when they are marketed towards children.

Brax: Any advice for others trying to “make it” in music?

Son of Heatwave: Yeah, I’m a teacher. I teach kids.

Brax: Anything else you’d like to add?

Son of Heatwave: Sure! Um... my favorite animal right now is the horse-shoe crab. Mainly because I realized that it is either meteor proof or ice-age proof. Also, can you use your persuasion-ray to get us more shows?